Observational studies of star formation: conclusions.
Abstract
The main conclusions of a large-scale study of star formation based on optical spectroscopy and IR observations of several hundred young stars are presented. The data have been interpreted by means of H-R diagrams for five large stellar aggregates, including the Taurus-Auriga complex, as well as convective-radiative tracks, isochrones, and lines of constant stellar radius. It is found that: (1) the distribution of stars in the more extensive H-R diagrams is highly suggestive of convective-radiative evolution; (2) many of the stars lie on their convective tracks; (3) extinction probably occurs within the dark clouds rather than in circumstellar envelopes; (4) the visible stars in the Taurus-Auriga clouds seem to have formed in the surface layers of the clouds; (5) the overall efficiency of star formation is a few percent for either entire aggregates or smaller entities; (6) there is no evidence for coeval star formation; and (7) the source of the principal stellar emission lines is apparently chromospheric.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- January 1979
- DOI:
- 10.1086/182877
- Bibcode:
- 1979ApJ...227L.105C
- Keywords:
-
- Protostars;
- Star Clusters;
- Star Formation;
- Emission Spectra;
- Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram;
- Infrared Astronomy;
- Light Curve;
- Optical Emission Spectroscopy;
- Astrophysics;
- Interstellar Matter;
- Star Formation